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Columbus, Georgia, 1951. "Future Marines of America -- Juniors." The prospective jarheads last seen here. Acetate negative from the Shorpy News Photo Archive. View full size.
It's 1951, the conflict in Korea is raging, two eager patriotic boys finish watching the Newsreels at the Palace Theater and head to the Marine Recruiting Office. They have questions. As a Marine who recruited in an Army town I know that it's not hard to make quota. Young lads usually look to do something different than what their pop made a career of. And Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia is definitely an Army town. So I would guess that with his monthly quota made the Staff Sergeant is glad to answer the youngster's questions and plant a seed that may bring them back in, in a couple or three years. A tried and true practice.
It's the haircut, uniform and stern look that distinguishes the man, same R. Lee Ermey. There's the resemblance.
To KathyRo and RG62 - I was in the Marine Corps during the mid-sixties and can tell you from first-hand experience, ALL Staff NCO (staff sergeants and above) tend to look (and act) alike. I think that they were all cloned.
In 1951, only February, March and November had the Saturday dates shown in the partially-visible calendar (3, 10, 17, 24).
February can be eliminated because in 1951 the month ended on the 28th, while the displayed month has a 29th.
Based on the top of the "3" visible on Friday the 30th, it appears there is not a "3" in the partially obscured same position on Saturday.
If it was March, there would probably be a "3" poking out on Saturday March 31. Since there is not, it was probably November 1951, when Saturday would have been December 1.
November 1951 assumes the calendar is on the correct month. A safe bet with a squared-away Marine such as Sgt. Ermey here.
Anyone else think Sarge here looks like R. Lee Ermey?
The most popular rifle name is Charlene.
version of R. Lee Ermey, the ex-Marine who co-starred as the DI in Full Metal Jacket.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/r-lee-ermey-ex-marine-wh...
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